I just wrote a review for The Park Restaurant, a place which I believe serves up the best pizza in Beijing.
http://www.thebeijinger.com/directory/The-Park-Restaurant
My first and only (and last) visit to La Pizza was over a year ago but seeing as how I just wrote up The Park I figured I'd share my opinion about this place too since it recently topped Time Out's list.
First of all, I honest-to-God believe the owner is bribing people and/or has connections in high places. You'll notice this directory listing of reviews is full of either one-star reviews or five-star reviews. Believe the one-star reviews.
So I went there when it first opened and was super excited. There was a lot of hype surrounding its opening and interestingly enough that hype remains today.
We started with appetizers, some kind of meatballs, I just remember them being WAY too overpriced for what turned out to be like three or four really small, dry and cakey meatballs.
Then we got a vegetable spaghetti-type dish which I could've made myself at home and it would've tasted better and have been much cheaper.
At this point I was thinking to myself "WTF?" but I figured well, maybe they can't cook other dishes worth a dang because they focus so hard on making awesome pizza?
Then we ordered a pizza. First of all it took FOREVER to bring it out. Then when it finally arrived, it was served on ALUMINUM FOIL. How a place that presents itself as a gift from the Gods of Italian Pizza serves pizza on something your mom uses when she reheats Domino's in the toaster oven was a huge shock to me.
Anyway, the pizza, if you haven't guessed by now, was terrible. Totally bland, totally flavorless. It tasted like ketchup on matzo bread with Kraft cheese singles. <--- (OK, that's just plain disgusting...but it was pretty bad.)
You'll notice the differences in my writing style for this review and for The Park. That's because the people at The Park obviously take their time to meticulously present their customers with well-crafted food and drink, while La Pizza just shovels crap in your mouth. I'm just doing what I can to bring some justice to good restaurants and shed some light on the farce that is La Pizza.
Again, NO idea why this place is consistently trumpeted as #1...I suspect the Mafia has something to do with it.
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Comments
Re: Most Overrated Restaurant In Beijing
Tomomalley:
I agree that Beijing is not Naples, but the real issue is why La Pizza was chosen as number one because even though theirs isn't "great" pizza, there are certainly much, much better pizzas in Beijing.
Re: Most Overrated Restaurant In Beijing
In Time Out's latest issue La Pizza is ranked #1 in having the best pizza in Beijing. This is without a doubt the most fraudulent thing I have read since moving to China. I've eaten at La Pizza twice and both experiences were awful. I wouldn't put La Pizza on my top 100 places to eat pizza in Beijing. My theory behind La Pizza's #1 ranking is that they buy the most advertising with Time Out.
Re: Most Overrated Restaurant In Beijing
I tried to eat at La Pizza one time (Sanlitun location). It's not a very big place, but when no staff bothered to approach me to take my order after 20 minutes, I got hungry and left for Biteapitta. I'll try another time when they're not so busy.
Re: Most Overrated Restaurant In Beijing
I ate in La Pizza many times and I always enjoyed the pizza. I am Italian and I can say that even in Italy is difficult to find such a good pizza. If there is Chef Giuseppe to do the pizza for sure it will be excellent. In any case try their margherita with anchovies or their wonderful calzones full of delicious ricotta cheese and there is no way you could be disappointed.
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